454 
Tincture  of  Strophanthus. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharcn. 
Sept.,  1889. 
TINCTUKE  OF  STROPHANTHUS. 
By  Geoege  M.  Beeinger,  Ph.  G. 
The  reading  of  Dr.  E.  E..  Squibb's  recent  article  on  this  subject  (in 
Ephemeris,  page  1252),  recalled  to  my  mind  a  few  simple  experiments 
tried  about  a  year  or  so  ago.  As  the  results  may  possibly  be  of  value 
to  others  I  desire  to  here  record  them.  As  this  preparation  will  most 
likely  be  an  addition  to  the  Pharmacopoeia  at  the  next  revision,  it 
seems  desirable  that  all  information  and  formulas  should  be  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Committee  on  Revision.  To  that  end,  I  am  con- 
strained to  briefly  review  the  salient  points  of  the  literature  bearing 
on  this  subject. 
The  tincture  as  originally  proposed  by  Prof.  Fraser  in  1885  was 
one  Ounce  avoirdupois  of  the  seed  in  eight  fluidounces  of  tincture. 
It  was  afterwards  shown  by  W.  Martindale  that  this  amount  of  men- 
struum did  not  nearly  extract  the  drug  and  he  suggested  to  make  the 
tincture  one  ounce  avoirdupois  to  the  imperial  pint  of  twenty  fluid - 
ounces.  This  strength  1  to  20  has  since  been  accepted  by  Prof.  Fra- 
ser, Wm.  Elborne,  H.  Helbiug  and  I  believe  by  all  other  investigators 
and  adopted  by  the  British  Pharmaceutical  Conference.  The  follow- 
ing is  the  formula  of  the  Unofficial  Formulary: 
TINCTURA  STROPHANTHI  (TINCTURE  OF  STROPHANTHUS). 
Take  of 
Strophanthus  Seeds,  reduced  to  No.  30  powder  and  dried  at  110°F  1  oz. 
Pack  in  a  percolator,  and  moisten  with  pure  ether  (sp.  gr.  720). 
Macerate  for  twenty-four  hours,  then  allow  the  percolation  to  proceed T 
continuing  the  addition  of  ether,  until  the  fluid  passes  through  color- 
less, (about  eight  or  ten  fluidounces  suffice).  Remove  the  marc  from 
the  percolator,  and  dry  it,  gradually  heating  it  to  120°F.  Again 
reduce  it  to  powder,  repack  in  the  percolator,  and  moisten  with  recti- 
fied spirit.  Macerate  for  forty -eight  hours,  then  pour  on  successive 
quantities  of  spirit,  percolating  slowly,  until  one  pint  of  tincture  is  ob- 
tained. Dose — 2  to  10  minims.  ( Year  Book  of  Pharmacy,  1888,  475.) 
Dr.  Squibb  now  proposes  to  prepare  the  tincture  by  the  following 
process : 
Clean  well  dried  strophanthus  seed  256  parts. 
Broken  glass  128  parts. 
Stronger  ether,  (Sp.  gr.,  725  at  15-6°C). 
Menstruum  of  2  parts  alcohol  and  1  part  water  or  alcohol  of  62  per  cent. ; 
of  each  a  sufficient  quantity. 
